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Company gets $20M state contract despite concerns

Published 12:21 pm, Friday, July 8, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — State officials have approved a $20 million contract to a company that provides home care for hundreds of South Carolina's most vulnerable adults, despite concerns about its care and a state freeze on new clients.

The Greenville News reported Friday (http://grnol.co/29H3lly ) that commissioners with the state Department of Disabilities and Special Needs awarded South Carolina Mentor a contract that's 13 percent higher than last year's. The vote came three months after the agency halted referrals, and the company agreed to freeze any expansion plans.

According to the overseeing agency, 10 residents of Mentor-run homes died between 2011 and 2016. It classifies one of those as a substantiated case of abuse or neglect.

Agency director Beverly Buscemi says Mentor "serves some of the most challenging folks in our system."